The Demon In Me
by Mikiya
Summary: As a Demon fugitive from Hehachi, Jin finds himself being hunted also by a monster he thought long dead...In the form of his true love. UPDATED! YAY! (poor Xiayou, she gets it bad in this chapt)
1. Chapter 1

"The Demon in me"

A Tekken fanfic by Mikiya

Disclaimer: Character's from namco that I'm using in this story do not belong to me, I'm not making any profit from this story, so don't sue!

She ran through the dimly lit hallways that echoed her breathless gasps for air until what seemed like an eternity. She stopped at a junction in the hallway to find her way as well as catch her breath. Her heart was still beating fast, but she still had a screaming urge inside her body to keep running. She had been running out of pure fear. When she first laid eyes upon it, she had seen her destiny, to defeat the vicious ogre that had mercilessly brought many a great fighter to their death. She stood defiantly, staring it strait in the eyes, the windows of it's corrupt soul. But in its eyes she saw things no such person of her innocence was ever meant to see. The images in the eyes of the ogre were far more terrifying than she could've ever had imagined. The screaming tortured souls of the ogre's victims wandered aimlessly inside of the creature. The visions turned her stomach. She was beginning to feel their pain now hers as their screams became ever louder. She was sure now, it was her time to die. She was the next soul on his eternally tortured list. _Run._ Though her mind was screaming it, it actually took some time for the command to reach her legs. She took a few steps back towards the building, then turned around walking steadily towards it. Like a dangerous animal, she did not want to entice it to chase her by running, but her self restraint broke, as did her body, into a full run. Leading her blindly to where she was now. 

Giving into her body's demand for rest she leaned against a wall and slid down it until she reached the floor. "There's no way I can let this demon defeat me before I've even fought it." Thought Julia to herself. She glanced about the hallways once more and when she was sure the ogre wasn't anywhere around she relaxed herself- somewhat. She stood up and walked back down the hallway, it didn't look familiar, but wasn't it the way she came. She realized she had no idea where she was. Why she even had come? The tournament had been deemed private and only certain guest were allowed to view it, but she'd never forgave herself if she didn't at least try to sneak a peak of the final battle. And there was Jin. She had to talk to him, to tell him the truth about his grandfather, even if he didn't believe her. She had a feeling something bad would happen to him if she didn't. "The images..." As she thought of them they came flooding back into her brain. She paced around mindlessly trying to understand the pictures her encounter with the ogre had shown her. But her unconscious seemed stumble over one particular image. "A symbol…" She couldn't get her mind to stay focused enough to get a clear view of it. "A mark..." Julia vaguely remembered catching a glimpse at one like it. "A demon mark…" _The ogre had put it on him so it would know to come back to him. _

"Jin." 

She immediately turned back down the hall from where she came and took a left, then another right which lead her to a staircase which she ran up. She didn't know how or why she knew where she was going, but she ran her fastest.

Hworang wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth. Jin wasn't the same person he fought before. There was a vicious rage within each move he made. Though Hworang would never say it, he didn't know if he could last much longer. Jin's strength was almost inhuman. "I am the best," Hworang said to himself, "and this fight will prove it." He said before he kicked at Jin. The two exchanged blocked punches and kicks again before they broke apart. Breathing heavily, Hworang glared viciously at his opponent. Jin met his glare with an equal if not more vicious glare of his own. Hworang took his stance and prepared for an onslaught from Jin. But it didn't come. Jin's focus seemed to have been diverted by something behind him. Hworang wasn't one to waste god given openings and unleashed a combo of punches upon Jin, finishing it off with a kick to the mid-section, which sent Jin to the floor. "A little distracted there aren't we?" Hworang jeered. But Jin's attention would not be deviated, as he continued to stare in shock. Hworang turned his head around to see it coming at him fast. He had barely enough time to roll out of the way, then block as the horrid looking creature dove at him, missed then tried to attack him once more. He jumped back up, ducking a couple more of its swings before landing a kick upon its chest but that only infuriated it more. Putting his arms up to block the uppercut that the ogre attacked him with hardly decreased the hurt of the blow. It then rose into the air as Hworang stumbled back in shock. The ogre let out a huge blast of fire from its mouth. The explosion blew Hworang back into the wall. He then fell limply onto the ground. The ogre slowly turned its attention towards Jin. 

It was finally here. The moment for which he had lived the past four years of his life was the present. In the years he'd been training he'd often dream of the moment he'd face the ogre that slaughtered his mother. He had secretly, at times, wondered if he really would be strong enough to defeat the ogre, if indeed he ever got a chance to face him. But as he stood before the creature now, he could think of nothing else but the various ways he would make the demon suffer for his pain. 

Upon entering the arena Julia rushed over to where Hworang laid. She heard a grunt of pain escape him as he struggled to lift his head. She put her hand behind his neck to support him. 

"Julia?" He said. 

"Will you be okay?" She asked. He only grunted in reply. She wanted nothing more than to help Jin destroy the evil being but she wouldn't. This was Jin's fight, he'd been waiting a good portion of his life for it, and besides, at the speeds they were attacking each other now, she'd probably only get in the way. The monster let out an ear-piercing wail as Jin swiftly snapped its arm in two. Then its transformation began.

It looked more horrifying than before to Julia. Jin was on the ground still recovering from being blinded by the creature's radiant output. The ogre was no longer the discolored humanoid creature with a fancy headdress, it was something else. With large spiky scales protruding from its back, red eyes and a snake for a hand, this truly was a creature of ones nightmares. Looking upon the ogre's new form, Jin was frozen.

"Jin, no," thought Julia, "Please don't let this new form intimidate you, it merely changed as a last resort because it was loosing, you still have the upper hand."

Jin dodged the massive scaled arm sweeping after him. He scrambled around furiously trying to avoid getting hit as he tried his best to concentrate on a new strategy, but a giant snake rushed him from the side. He threw himself on the ground then rolled as the snake, which he now saw was an extension of the ogre, smashed its head into the ground where Jin had landed not more than a second earlier. The ogre's massive form stood over Jin ominously. Jin found himself unable to move.

"Even if Jin kills me for this later, I have to help." Julia stealthily charged the monster from its back. Sensing her somehow, it turned around and tried to swipe at her, but she ducked out of the way and landed her kick on the massive beast. The beast let out a thunderous roar, and swiped at her with its razor sharp talons. "Julia NO!" thought Jin. Her attack however was a much-needed diversion, giving Jin enough time to formulate a short term attack plan. Jin rushed at the ogre, it turned to face him seemingly to expect the oncoming attack, but he rolled to the side just as the monster moved to meet his attack and landed a powerful side kick onto the monster's chest. Jin continued to barrage the ogre with a whirlwind of kicks and punches, leaving the monster too dazed to block the onslaught. The monster jumped up into the air, where it hovered. It then shot a stream of fire from its mouth at him. Jin had to run and take cover to avoid getting toasted, but ended up being blown across the room by the sheer force of the attack. As Julia watched the horrifying event from the place where she had fallen wounded, she couldn't pry her eye away from what looked like to be a cracked scale on it's side, where Jin had landed a mighty blow. Ignoring the pain in her arm she made her way inconspicuously towards the wall and grabbed a burning torch from one of the iron thresholds. She saw her chance as it began to descend to the ground once more. At once she rushed underneath the demon and shoved the glowing embers deep underneath the pliable scale into the ogre. Julia rushed the monster again and kicked in the torch, shoving it even further into the ogre's being.

True ogre threw back its head and bellowed as it let a huge stream of fire stream out of its mouth high into the air. The explosive force of the fire seemed to ignite everything it touched, even the stones of the building crumbled when the inferno touched them. Then, the monster's tantrum ended, as did its evil existence. 

Jin blocked his eyes from the blinding flash of light that the ogre dissipated into. He stood there, not quite knowing how to react. But he was soon brought back to the urgency of the present. 

"Hey pretty boy! What are ya standing around for the whole place is coming down!" Said Hworang, signaling him towards the exit. 

Jin looked back frantically into the array of falling rocks, for any hint of where Julia could be. 

"Julia." He said more to himself than to anyone else. 

"Come on, we have to get the hell out of here before the whole place comes down on us!" Jin turned to face Hworang. "I'm not leaving without Julia." Hworang looked at him as if he was crazed, but he knew Jin meant what he said.

Jin's expression softened as he reassured Hworang, "I'll get her out, I promise. But I need you to take care of your own safety." Hworang sighed. Jin definitely took bravado to a whole new level, but nobody had to tell Hworangtwice to get out of a collapsing building. Without another word he took off towards the exit. Jin took off into the falling ruble at times knocking offending pieces away that tried to land on him. He spotted Julia, and scooped up her immobile form from the floor, gingerly, with both of his arms. But as he looked back towards where the exit was, he saw even more pieces of the building falling and knew it would be impossible to make it though without damaging Julia even more. He took a running jump onto one of the windowsills above, kicking out the glass pane. The only way to go was down. 


	2. Chapter 2

"The Demon in me"

A Tekken fanfic by Mikiya

Disclaimer: Character's from namco that I'm using in this story do not belong to me, I'm not making any profit from this story, so don't sue!

It had been one of the greatest days of his life. It left him with a kind of nauseous feeling in his stomach, like he had been gut-punched. He had spent almost the entire day with Julia. They hadn't really done much, walked around the city seeing the different sites, he treated her to a movie, and to an Ice cream afterwards, and then they walked around some more. He then gave her ride in his limousine back to her hotel. When it was time for her to get out it was like trying to pull two of the worlds strongest magnets apart. They sat in the car nervously glancing from around various places into the car desperately failing at avoiding each other's eyes. But eventually Julia broke the standstill, and with a quick peck of a kiss on Jin's check she leapt out of the car scurried into the lobby of her hotel, lest she be drawn back into the car by Jin's magnetic pull. He was sad his day spent with Julia was over, but he was also happy. When he faced up to it, he was down right giddy. Which is why he had gone to the training room, to release some of the excitement he had been suppressing that day, while maintaining a cool, calm persona in front of Julia. 

He kicked at the punching bag ferociously, and finally with a roundhouse kick, he sent it crashing to the floor, it's contents spilling out all over. He smirked, 'Another piece of high quality training equipment down the drain.' He hadn't felt this happy, well, since his mother was alive. Nothing now could spoil his mood, or ruin his day. 

Nothing except this. 

"Don't you see boy, you've been played for a fool!" Hehachi's voice boomed throughout the room. Jin could only sit in a daze shaking his head in disbelief. 

"Julia Chang's only purpose here is to find the pendant so her tribe can have total control of the ogre!"

Jin's head shot up, as he looked Hehachi in the eye, almost as if he was daring to challenge his grandfather's words. This was hard for the boy to swallow, Hehachi could see, so he decided to continue his fabrication on a more personal note.

"You remember Jin, what the ogre did to your mother, how it ripped the person who meant more than the world to you right out of your life." Jin stared at the floor, his fists tightening at the mention of the dreaded night his mother was slaughtered and the demon mark was seared on his arm.

"Think of all the more innocent lives that could be taken if you allow these greedy people to get a hold of a monster like the ogre! This sinister evil should be destroyed so it can do no more harm, not harnessed for the use of the dark hearted!" Hehachi could tell he had the boy. "This is why tomorrow when you face Julia Chang in the tournament you will defeat her, and send her back empty handed to the villainous crooks she came from!" Jin was silent for a moment. He slowly rose up and gave a bow to his grandfather. Hehachi nodded, then headed towards the exit, leaving Jin in the training room. A sinister smile crept over the old man's face as he turned his back on his grandson.

"You aren't the least bit worried?" asked a concerned Xiayou, 

"Jin Kazama is pretty strong." Julia looked over at her young friend as she walked towards where her match would soon be held. Hworang followed along in the back, walking along with such self-importance, one would think he was leading the procession. 

"I know Jin is strong," She replied. "But I intend to fight to my best ability, and win too, if I may." 

"Yeah, well just cause you two shared a little ice cream together, it doesn't mean pretty boy is gonna take it any easier on you." Stated Hworang. "He wants to make sure he doesn't get beaten so he can get at me." Julia gave Hworang a warning glance, but Hworang, either out of spite or pure ignorance choose not to heed it. He continued on, "Once you get in the ring, just get down and stay down, if you don't want to be seriously injured." There was an unspoken fury that could be felt rising from Julia. She stormed a few paces ahead of them angrily, opting not to waste energy that she would soon need for the fight. She'd make sure to get at Hworang after though. 

Xiayou jabbed Hworang in his side. 

"What's your problem!" she hissed through her teeth at him.

"Relax little empress, just getting our champion fighter a all riled up for the fight." He said chuckling. Xiayou could only sigh. She then broke the tension amongst them by stating the obvious. 

"Were here guys!" Xiayou rushed ahead in excitement. Try as she may to act mature, at times like this it was all too obvious how young she was. Hworang smirked, it still wasn't even clear to him why, but it really was her youthful innocence that attracted him to her. "Come on," said Julia to Hworang, as they quickened their pace to keep up with Xiayou.

Julia truly hadn't been scared. Until now. 

"Ready, FIGHT!" the announcers voice sounded the beginning of the match. Jin rushed at her immediately, moving almost too fast for her to see. She managed to divert some of his blows, but still, she could feel the force from them where she had blocked them. It wasn't the fact that she was desperately struggling to keep from being slaughtered only seconds into the match. Or that his blocked hits still hurt her. It was his eyes. A look, a pained look, as of one whom had lost all faith in humanity. The bitterness of which Jin fought with hadn't been a side of him that she'd experienced before. She looked for an opening in his onslaught, and found one when he wasn't guarding his left side. She faked a kick to his right, then turned on it and punched him hard in his gut. In the few seconds he was subdued with pain, she thew a punch across his face, then high kicked him in the jaw. He stumbled back a step, as he wiped a trickle of blood that had formed form his mouth, glaring at her with venomous hatred. Though he was a strong fighter, there was something wrong here. The emotion with which he fought clouded his judgement. She had seen Jin fight before to know he usually doesn't let his emotions affect his performance in a match. 

"Jin, what's wrong?" she said, getting close enough to say it quietly, but still keeping a safe distance.

"You lied to me." He then came at her again with a whirl of kicks and punches the majority of them dodged, or blocked by her. 

"What are you talking about!" she said, only to be answered by mighty chop to her side from her opponent. She hopped back then staggered a bit from the blow. 

"Your only intention of coming here is to find the pendant so you control the ogre!" He said just audible enough for her to hear him. 

An unexpected wave of anger flowed at that moment through Julia. How twisted was this! The very person probably holding her mother captive was turning it around, claiming she was the one trying to harness evil powers! She cried out in anger as she kicked at Jin. He blocked it, but failed to anticipate the kick-trip she gave him next, sending him falling to the ground with a harsh thud. Not even a second after he had hit the ground did she bring her heel down on his chest with a powerful blow sending a sharp jolt of pain through Jin's body as he felt one of his ribs crack. He immediately rolled away from her to recoup from her pained attack. He stood up then, half-resenting the underhandedness of her attack, and half-resenting himself for letting her get a move like that over on him. But some good yet had come from this. In her burst of fury he had been shown everything he was doing wrong in the match. He was letting his feelings of hurt, confusion and betrayal enter the match. But as of now all outside feelings unrelated to this match were obsolete. He had never, seen heard of, or known his opponent. There were no other obstacles for him to overcome, internal or external, except for the fighter placed before him, which he would defeat because he was one of the greatest fighters in the world and his cause was more righteous than any other. 

Jin stood up strait and breathed deeply, facing his opponent, who was now charging him. This battle would not last for much longer. From there two flash kicks an a punch to the mid section was all it took for Jin to send Julia on a crash course, flying some seven feet then sliding against the ground. Jin then cautiously stepped towards Julia. Though he had given her ample time to get up in order to defend herself, still remained on the ground. Was she giving up already? Or was this another one of her tricks? As he neared Julia he could see her head move and her eyes flutter open. Her glossy, honey brown eyes were deadlocked on his. Try as he might, he really couldn't read any such deviousness as his grandfather spoke of. He saw now what he had seen in her before. A strong, beautiful girl, an untamed spirit, unlike anyone he'd ever met before in his life. Could he have misjudged her character?

Julia was starting to wonder if she should've taken Hworang's advice. She ached all over, but she refused to let up, no member of the evil Mishima Empire would ever humble her. She painstakingly rolled over on her front, her gaze not wavering from the dark eyes of opponent, pushed up from the ground onto her knees, stood up strait and proud to face Jin and then, collapsed.

"JIN KAZAMA WINS!" the announcers voice sounded the end of the match. The crowd cheered. It took all of Jin's strength to simply turn around and walk out of the ring. For a reason unknown to him he had wanted nothing more than to catch Julia's fall. But he had told himself it didn't matter, she didn't matter, nothing mattered except his victory, which he had taken. He couldn't stop himself from glancing back once at her, seeing the paramedics pick her up from the floor while a young Chinese girl of familiar face, one he may have seen at his high school before, panicked around them. What had he done?

In and out of consciousness Julia had seen many garbled images of the excitement surrounding her, but one disturbing image plagued her, mind and her dreams there after. It was Hehachi, his sinister nod and cruel smile. An all knowing smirk, as if he were in control and the people surrounding were no more than his puppets, playing out their roles in his evil plot. Then it occurred to her that Jin was Hehachi's puppet, his main marionette, hopelessly tangled in his web of deception and lies. But Jin must know some of what his grandfather is doing? Or maybe he's just choosing to ignore it. Either way she would free Jin, she would make him realize the truth. Julia woke from her troubled sleep to find herself in a hospital bed. She squinted, as the bright neon lights hurt her eyes. Across the room she saw Hworang snoozing in a chair cuddling Xiayou all curled up in his lap. She'd get on their cases about that later, but at the moment the only thing on her mind was Jin. 

"I have to warn him…"


	3. Chapter 3

An opaque column of smoke floated up from where the top floor of the pyramid building used to be. It would be hard to tell it from the night sky, were the stars and moon not shining so bright. The image enchanted Jin somewhat, as he lay sprawled upon the ground. That is until he heard a desolate groan from a party not so enchanted as he was. He looked over to where Julia laid on the ground, a few feet out of his reach, as he had lost hold of her while sliding down the diagonal frame of the building to escape a collapsing top floor. He scorned him self for escaping so dangerously, but it had seemed like the best thing to do at the time. And they both survived right?

"Julia." He called her name, then wondered why he had done it so softly, if she was even conscious to hear him, she probably didn't. She turned her head slowly, looking over into Jin's eyes. The gentle glimmer of the moonlight accentuated her features more brilliantly than ever. Jin sat up, his eyes still locked on the object of his new enchantment. 

"Jin?" she said with a broken up voice. He pushed himself off the ground and crawled over to her. Jin's brain had long ago stopped receiving and signals of pain, so the various cuts, bruises and fractured bones within his body didn't even ache him as he carried the weight of Julia's body to the nearby fountain and settled her on the smooth marble platform circling it. 

"Jin," she began with a crackled voice, "Jin I'm sorry…" 

"Shh… it's okay now." He said to her cradling her softly.

"No, I have to say this, I'm sorry for not telling you earlier why I came here. I mean I know I told you I was looking for my mother, but that's not all of it. You see she came here earlier before the tournament to meet with Hehachi and she has been missing ever since. I believe- no, I know Hehachi must of taken her captive. You may not believe such things about your grandfather, you may even be siding with him, but Hehachi is a very bad man. He only has his best interests in mind, and if you keep staying around him, I know he'll kill you, because you're strong…" Julia halted, she wondered if what she was saying was getting through to him. Jin couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye. He couldn't even think of how he let himself believe such hateful things about her, from Hehachi no doubt. And even after what had happened Julia still came there and risked her life to save him. He wondered why she never doubted him during their time there. He was after all, a Mishima. He could have been the very person holding her mother captive, yet she saw a good in Jin that he wondered if he himself could ever come to realize.

Julia looked up at Jin. He hadn't said anything for a minute now, staring into oblivion, with a glossy look over his eyes. Julia hesitantly reached up and stroked him gently on the side of face. He took her hand into his large gloved one and gave it a gentle squeeze before standing up. Julia frowned, 

"Where…"

"To talk to Hehachi."

"I'll come too."

"If my grandfather's as bad of a man as you say he is, then you would be better off staying here, wouldn't you?" 

"I still have to find my mother." She said. A sly smirk came over his face, a look that Julia had yet to know the true meaning behind.

"What?" she asked.

"I once promised I would help you find your mother did I not?" 

"She's here?"

"And if you leave here she won't be able to find you." He said. Julia looked at Jin cynically. 

"Please Julia," Jin continued, "I have to face Hehachi, alone." He looked up into the night once again.

"And what happens after?"

"What?" he said.

"What happens after you go?"

"You and mother will go home and you'll get to go back to your life and forget all about this." He said. 

"I mean to you." She replied. Jin looked at her fervently but did not reply. As Julia stood up, she fought to hold back tears of anguish.

"What if I don't want to forget!" she cried out. He set his hand, gently but firmly on her shoulder. Julia sat back down. He lifted her and looked into her tear-streaked eyes. Julia starred intently as hoping to see some glimpse of what was happening inside him though the dark windows of his soul. Finally, he pulled his hand away and stepped back, knowing if he remained in her gaze for too long he might not be able to leave at all. Julia painfully let another tear escape her as she watched Jin walk out of her life forever. She didn't bother to wipe it away.

The desperate and concerned mother searched as actively as her tired and worn body would let her. Her time spent solitarily imprisoned by Hehachi had been anything but resting for her. Escaping had been even more straining on her, but she had managed, and found out there was to be a final battle of the tournament. This was for sure to be the place that her daughter would be. But upon coming to the fight she had found no crowd around to see the last fight. She had even had to sneak into the arena, as its entrance was guarded. It was then that Michelle remembered it was like this too at the last tournament she was at, and the one before it. The final battle fought in private as it usually had some other sinister purpose hidden in the guise of a fight. The whole tournament's purpose was ultimately only for a Mishima to know. Michelle worried so much, mostly for the whereabouts of her daughter but also for Jin Kazama. Michelle had met Jin in the building where the final battle was being held. She had recognized who he was almost immediately and was surprised when he recognized her equally.

"Your Julia's mother." He stated calmly. 'Jun's son.' Michelle thought.

"Julia, do you know where she-"

"Yes, I told her not to come to this fight but she will most likely be here." He said. Michelle was uncomfortable with the familiarity of which Jin spoke of her daughter, and he sensed that. He was sure the mother and daughter would meet up before the night was completely over, but he felt it necessary to offer some sort of positive assurance to the searching woman.

"There's a water fountain outside of this building on the far side. If I see Julia and she hasn't found you already, I'll tell her to wait for you there." He felt it wasn't much but it was currently the most he could do. They then heard some troops of Hehachi approaching. Probably looking for him so they could begin the match.

"It would probably be in your best interest to stay out of sight of the patrol men, they are making it their top priority to keep all people off the grounds who aren't allowed here. Michelle thanked him deeply; she had the feeling this wasn't the only good thing he had done for her daughter. She could see Jin was a good man, but so sad.

"What did Hehachi do to him?" she had thought. The young man was certainly troubled, but to lose one's mother, who wouldn't be? But upon meeting Jin she had seen that his conflicts ran deeper than just coping with the loss of his mother. There was something that he had no control over, a force, an evil force eating at him. 

In the aftermath of the fight, which had appeared to be eventful though Michelle had not witnessed it- by reason of the collapsed, smoking top floor of the building, she wandered in the night now, looking for her daughter. Ahead she saw human like figures in the darkness and she rushed over to them. She found a young reddish haired man, obviously a fighter in the tournament, in fairly bad condition with an even younger girl Chinese kneeling beside him. As selfish as it seemed to be only concerned with her daughter when this man apparently needed help Michelle proceeded to ask about Julia. Hworang coughed slightly as he tried to respond- Xiayou patted him on the back in effort to comfort him.

"The ceiling and everything was falling in, but Jin, he went back in after her." He said.

Michelle's face went pale at the information. Xiayou seeing the woman so placid also responded.

"Oh don't you give up on them so soon, if there's anyone who definitely got out of there with Julia it has to be Jin. He wouldn't let anything happen to her." She said though she didn't know any of it herself, to be true. Michelle nodded the headed on. She didn't want to lose faith now but she was so tired. She walked around to the side of the building, taking note of the complete absence of any type of guards in that area where there had once been so many. Then she saw him, Jin, walking towards the arena again, but he was by himself. Michelle hadn't then energy to call out to him, but the instead decided to go to the direction Jin had been came from. Amongst the trees and shrubbery surrounding the grounds there was a clearing. In the clearing there was a fountain. And sitting at this fountain was her girl, Julia. 

"JIN KAZAMA WINS!" the announcers voice sounded the end of the match. The crowd cheered. It took all of Jin's strength to simply turn around and walk out of the ring. For a reason unknown to him he had wanted nothing more than to catch Julia's fall. But he had told himself it didn't matter, she didn't matter, nothing mattered except his victory, which he had taken. He couldn't stop himself from glancing back once at her, seeing the paramedics pick her up from the floor while a young Chinese girl of familiar face, one he may have seen at his high school before, panicked around them. What had he done?

"Congratulations on your victory boy." Said Hehachi to Jin as he had passed his grandfather while exiting the stadium. Jin shot his head up looking to his grandfather, the man from which the felicitation had come. Jin stopped in his tracks as if in a loss for what to do. Jin then bowed swiftly and wordlessly, to his grandfather and continued away. With a nod and his signature smirk Hehachi watched the troubled boy hustle away. Such surprise from Jin was only expected by both of them, as Hehachi did not congratulate Jin on any battles he won. It was only expected that Jin, a Mishima, would defeat each and every opponent he came up against. Jin was fully aware that his win against Julia was in no way a victory to him. Hehachi was congratulating himself.

A mysterious power it was, a sinister evil. Descendants of the Mishima line were expected to be strong no doubt, but there was unnatural familiarity of which Jin fought that had Hehachi apprehensive. The boy had never met his father and had admitted to not even knowing of him until he was a teenager. Yet when he fought, Hehachi could see Kazuya in him. It was certain to Hehachi that this devil bestowed power had also been passed down to Jin. When Jin had first come to him as a young boy of fifteen, Hehachi as been truly amazed at how unlike his father he was. With the exception of his looks the boy held none of the cruel and cunning qualities of his father. Jin was more trusting, no so much after his mother had been killed, but he was still a gullible boy folding into Hehachi's teachings, training, and lies, like soft pliable putty. A great thing it was to have such a strong but docile power on his side however, Hehachi knew it would not last, which is why he had it in his plans to captivate the ogre's power. From the moment Jin had come into contact with that Chang girl he had started to slip from Hehachi's hold. Hehachi snorted in disgust. 

"It figure's the boy would find his way by the influence of a woman. The weak minded fool." He thought to himself. But now that Jin's eyes had been uncovered, it really was much too dangerous to have him alive. History had a repetitive habit and Hehachi had no intention of getting overthrown again, he was simply to old to fight for his empire back. But unlike his father, Jin would be much easier to be rid of.

"Hehachi!" the old man heard the powerful, young voice of Jin echo across the room.

"Speak of the devil…" said Hehachi chuckling to himself he cocked his silver barrel gun and aimed it dead in the middle of Jin's forehead and fired. The scattered rattling of rapid gunfire from Hehachi's troops shooting at Jin echoed throughout the building, and could be heard outside too. 

What happened next had been completely unexpected especially of Hehachi himself. Over thirty rounds of bullets must of hit the boy, but still, he rose. Like a portrait of Hehachi's worst nightmare come true, Jin stood, fist tightly clenched at his side with his eyes still closed. Hehachi's heart raced uncontrollably as Jin's glowing, red eyes flashed open and glared deep into his.

"What is this?" he stepped back firing his gun again but it had no affect. The troops around him followed suit, but all ammunition used was in vain. Demon Jin stalked towards Hehachi, effortlessly casting aside any guards in his way, sending more to a few to their deaths. He burst into a run and charged at Hehachi forcing him through the already weakened stone wall of the building. While falling to the ground Hehachi grabbed desperately onto Jin, but Jin cast off Hehachi's grasp, and in mid air sprouted long and dark ominous wings. Hehachi landed with a thud on the ground, sooner than he had expected. The floor he was on hadn't really been more than a story high or so. Hehachi sat up arching his back in pain from the landing, and watched his grandson fly off into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Julia shot up from her bed, awaking from a restless slumber in a cold sweat. It took her a couple seconds to realize where she was. She looked about the bedroom, her bedroom. "Home…" she thought. Why doesn't it feel like it? Jin had told her to forget; she was trying to forget. But the nightmares wouldn't let her. Nearly a month after the tournament, and Julia was still being haunted by it. 

She rose from her bed, walking over to a large mirror resting on top of her bureau in her room, from her digital clock it was only 8:00. She must have dozed off an hour prior, right after dinner, but it felt to her as if it had been an eternity. She felt the side of her arm, still sore, a bandage wrapped around and open wound on her arm, the wound that she had received from fighting the ogre.

They had done all they could to take care of it, after a couple weeks of no progress on the healing they had taken Julia to a doctor. The doctor could find nothing wrong with Julia, her wound wasn't infected or anything, and the stitches were holding it in place. There was nothing that could be done for her. Julia had also been taken her to an old lady in the village that was known for healing skills. But they left abruptly after the lady had said something to her mother in a native tongue that Julia did not understand quite well. 

It was as if it was never going to heal. Nothing was. The mental and physical wounds of the tournament clung to her, and after more than a month Julia didn't know if she could take it any more. She looked into the mirror, with pleading eyes at her disheveled reflection. 

"Why can't I forget you Jin? What do I have to do to be rid of this forever?"

__

You can't be rid of him, not until you finish business.

Voices…Julia reached into her drawer. It had a gold and silver twisted handle, though she was unsure what metals it was made of. She pulled it out and raised the razor sharp edge of the dagger to her throat. Shaking, she stood facing the mirror.

"I won't let you do this to me!" she screamed, "I will die before I let you torment me any further!" As Julia pressed the blade against her skin, she felt an incredible pain, a burning and freezing sensation all at once, rippling through her body from the point at which the blade had come into contact with her skin. Julia shrieked and dropped the dagger at once. Terrified, Julia looked into her reflection, only to see it smirking back at her with its arms crossed. 

__

Not yet girl, I am far from done with you…

Screaming Julia rushed the mirror pounding it with her fists, sending shards of it about. After her fit of rage Julia collapsed, onto a pile of blood and broken mirror pieces strewn about the floor.

"Julia, honey, wake up." Julia opened her eyes, squinting from the brightness that infiltrated her room. She looked up to see the kind gaze of her mother, smiling down upon her. Michelle had come into Julia's bedroom to see her sprawled upon the floor in front of her dresser, she kneeled down and gently coaxed her daughter off the floor, sitting up.

"Are you okay baby?" said Michelle with a concerned frown. Julia looked around the room, then stood up, swaying a little from dizziness. Julia leaned against the dresser for support and looked into a full mirror. Her arms, were clear, and with the exception of the wound she presumed to still be under her bandage, she was cut free. She looked on the floor, no blood… 

"I'm fine mother," she said smiling to her mother. Michelle smiled back, thinking that this was the first time she had seen her daughter smile in while.

"Well in the future, I think you might find it more comfortable to fall asleep on your bed." Michelle said jokingly.

"Actually for the first time in a long time, I think I slept pretty well." Replied Julia.

"Maybe all you needed was a firmer mattress." Said Michelle. They both laughed lightly.

"You look like you could use some pancakes and bacon for breakfast, how about we go down to the kitchen and whip something up?" said Michelle.

"Sure ma," replied Julia, "you go down and I'll follow you in just a sec." Julia smiled at her mom reassuringly, as Michelle left the room. Julia turned her head sharply towards the mirror. No evil reflection smirking at her. She touched it, smooth, uncracked, as if nothing had even happened.

"Could last night really have been a dream?" it seemed so real, so intense. Sure her other nightmares had been pretty realistic, but they had always had some element in them that made them seem surreal. Well your reflection talking to you is pretty unreal, but Julia was still convinced that there was something more to this. She dropped to the floor, no mirror fragments on the ground, but is that…the dagger? Julia stood up, examining the knife. She couldn't help but hold it carefully, as to not touch the blade of it. Julia reached a finger out to touch the flat side of the blade, but recoiled her finger before she did. Julia shuddered.

"This is stupid," she thought, setting the knife down on the dresser. 

"Nothing happened last night, I'm just freaking out like usual." Julia rested her hand on the bandage of her injured arm and sighed. She looked back into the mirror, 

"Just a dream, no, a nightmare." She thought, "When will it end?" Julia squeezed her injured arm slightly. She looked at the dulled white wrap covering the majority of her upper arm, and a gash some six inches long. She slowly began to unwrap the gauze from around her arm. Where an bloodied unhealed wound should have been was…nothing. Clear skin, no cut, no scar, for over a month she had this open wound, but it disappeared in one night! Looking back into the mirror, Julia was terrified to see that her reflection didn't look half as disturbed by all this as she knew she was.

__

It will end soon enough.. 


	5. Chapter 5

Jin felt as if he was being watched, and he didn't like it. Though having a nation wide underground hunt conducted on you can have one feeling a bit paranoid; this was one of those times Jin decided to act upon his gut feelings. Jin pushed himself up from the bar table and made his way through the raving crowd of dancers towards the exit, the constant beat of techno music sounding ever louder as he passed directly underneath one of the speakers. Stepping into the alleyway where the club let out, Jin was partially relieved to be out of the chaos, but felt a little exposed. No matter how annoying he found the music and the ecstasy crazed dancers to be, Jin always felt more hidden in a crowd than he did anywhere by himself. Upon hearing light footsteps behind him, Jin came find he wasn't alone just yet. He whipped around, to slightly startle a girl, a young girl with big slanted eyes, brightly colored pink lips and dark hair with neon streaks of assorted colors, pulled into two ponytails with lollypops stuck in each. Her bangs draping partially over her eyes gave them an almost mysterious look. It was the girl he had talked to earlier in the club, and a gorgeous one at that. She stood there with her hand on her hip leaning sideways.

"Just when the party starts to get good, you're leaving?" she said a soft voice. He hadn't said much to her, but she still seemed to want to pursue him. Every working brain cell in Jin's mind was telling him to turn around and walk away ignoring the girl, but he didn't. Jin gave an exasperated sigh, partly angry with himself for letting a female get his attention at all, partly at her, for demanding it so. She had not the slightest understanding of the danger he was in, but perhaps he didn't know it himself if he was allowing her to distract him.

"Yeah, I've got to be going now." Said Jin.

"Really? I'll go with you."

"I said _I've_ got to be going, not _I _meaning 'we' but _I_ meaning 'me'," He responded stepping slightly away. He then added quickly, "by myself." He certainly didn't mean to be rude, but he was a man with an agenda, and currently, the top of his to-do list read: 'stay alive'. Besides, the last two times a pretty girl came up to him, at least twelve or more other guys came with her, all claiming to be her boyfriends! Needless to say, after he finished with them he couldn't return to that club, cutting down the number of places he could go to, which is detrimental, if ones survival depends on having plenty of places to hide in. The girl put on a hurt face and twisted one of her bangs around on her finger.

"You weren't going to leave without saying good bye to me?" she said tilting her head to the side with a disgustingly cute pout.

"I don't like long good-byes." He said.

"Then why don't we get our good-byes over and done with?" She walked over to him putting her arms up around his neck, at which point Jin jumped a little restraining his reflexive urge to block the on coming 'attack'. Securing her arms around him, she pulled his head down gently to meet his lips with her own. Jin, sliding his arms around her waist, pulled the girl's body close. He couldn't remember the last time he'd kissed a girl, or even if he had at all. He actually couldn't remember much of anything thing at this point, he could only think of how good the contact felt. Neither of them was keeping track of how long they were at it, as every time they would break apart, one or the other would lean in again, starting the seemingly endless cycle of the kiss. At last the passion seemed to calm as they both just stood there, looking into each other faces holding each other.

"I still have to go." Said Jin, unwillingly breaking back into reality from the utopia they had seemed to create for each other within that one kiss. The girl gently stepped out of their embrace.

"I'll walk you to the end of this alley," she said, linking her arm with his as they began to walk, "then, three blocks up to the left and a right turn up the boulevard." 

"You live around there." He asked, immediately thinking he shouldn't have.

"It's a place that I can crash at, anytime, with anybody." She replied. Jin looked down at the girl with the candy in her hair with a raised eyebrow. Attractive this girl may have been, but he was determined not to let her get to him. More than she already had that was.

"You'll walk me to the end of this alley. No further." He said sternly. She giggled leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Yeah whatever." 

Just then Jin thought he had heard something. He hadn't just heard it with his ears; it was his whole body picking it up. He glanced over his shoulder; stopping him and the girl in their tracks as to sense what it was a little better. She looked up at him. 'What's wrong?' Though it wasn't spoken, her expression sounded it for her. Jin and her once again presumed walking; he was sure where the danger was now. It was everywhere. Of what he could sense, fifteen, maybe twenty, of them all about the surrounding area, and closing in on him, fast. Jin wasn't quite sure what he was up against. Until now; he had never let them come this close to him, and never had to really face off with them, but he was sure now he would have to find out just how tough both of them really were. Had he been alone, he wouldn't have to face them, he would make a quick getaway and avoid giving any more positive leads put on him. Jin mentally cursed himself for letting this girl latch onto him for so long. To his back and now his front he was closed in, as up on the main street he was sure there were even more waiting for him. But not too far ahead there was a pathway branching off of the alley, which had to be their way out. He quickened his pace dramatically, pulling the girl roughly along side him until they had turned down the smaller alleyway.

"Hey, what's going on here- aieeeeee!" she screamed as the tatter of gun shots could be heard passing them by, some of them hitting and shattering the brick edge of the apartment adjacent to them. Jin didn't even get the chance to tell her to run, before both of them were fleeing down the pathway, as fast as two legs could take one. The path ended in what seemed to be a courtyard like clearing, an unkempt pool of stagnant water in the center, with a surrounding brown and yellow mush of compost that was presumed to once be flowers and grass. There wasn't time to choose a 'lucky' door from the number of boarded up exits leading into the surrounding building structures. The rattling of the machine guns was catching up with them. With quick thinking, Jin darted to the side, pulling the poor girl along for the ride. He then stashed her in a door cove, motioning for her to stay there with a pointed finger. Jin backed out into the middle of the clearing just as the men with machine guns, dressed in army apparel, piled in congregating around him. 'Alright genius, how are you going to get yourself out of this one?' thought Jin. What he needed now was a miracle. Seemingly out of no where, a large, concrete stone dropped out of the sky landing into the shallow pool of stale water sending up a surprisingly large splash. Jin had heard of miracles before, but in the form of a brick? Across the courtyard, he could see a man with unmistakable Tae kwon do moves and even more unique- a bright red head of hair. Hwoarang grabbed one of the troops by the arm, kicking him sharply in the head breaking his neck. He then used the body to swing into two other attacking troops knocking them both onto the ground. 

Jin took this as a time to attack. As he leaped upon a distracted gunman knocking the consciousness out of him with one single blow to the back of the neck, Jin took this time to calculate some odds. Eight army gunmen present, two of which Hwoarang just disabled and one of which he himself just taken out. That only left five; five with machine-guns that was. The troops seeing that they were being counter attacked, started spraying up the place. Fleeing to escape the bullets, Hwoarang ran to the nearest dumpster, rolling behind it. Jin took what cover her could get under the small courtyard pool platform. He felt a searing pain in his upper right arm as he landed upon it. He rolled onto his back to get his weight off of his pained arm. Even through the darkness he could clearly see a crimson stain of blood, growing thicker through the sleeve of his shirt. But that proved to be a lesser problem, for at the moment, as Jin peaked his head up above his cover, he could see the girl, looking pitifully up at a troop that had discovered her hiding place. He pointed his gun at her, causing her to cower a bit, then ordered her to get up. She seemed to put up no fight as the troop reached for her and she took hold of his arm pulling herself off the ground. That is, until she had jabbed a knife that looked to be a good five inches long, diagonally in a nicely calculated spot between his helmet and the body jacket he was wearing.

"Where was she hiding that thing?" Jin wondered. The troop's dying actions were to grasp desperately at the knife handle, now protruding from his neck, then to fall listlessly to the ground. Seemingly forgetting about the prized tekken fighters, the remaining troops rushed over to where the girl was. Two of them restrained her while one of the troops walked up to the girl. The troop looked over to see that Jin was watching and then proceeded to prop up his gun aiming it dead in the middle of the girl's forehead while the other two held her there. 

"You want her? Come and get her." Said the troop aloud, a clicking sound echoed throughout the yard as he cocked the gun. 

Jin breathed heavily as he felt a glowing rage inside of him. How dare this coward use her against him? With a vicious snarl, he leaped up, virtually flying across the courtyard, landing heavily by the troops clustered around the girl. Quick as lightning he, punched, cracked, jabbed, and dropped the soldiers surrounding her. The last one, the one who had pointed the gun at the girl, Jin menacingly stalked towards. The troop didn't even see the move that had knocked the gun clear out of his own hands; Jin had been quicker than a flash of lightning. The pitiful troop back away the transformed fighter, shaking, as he looked strait into the eyes of the devil himself. The troop turned around to run but found himself running smack into the demon boy. 

'How did he…' the troop choked.

Jin only growled as he grabbed the troop by the neck and stabbed his bare hand into his chest. He ripped from his body a beating bleeding heart. He then tossed it aside and the twitching body of the troop upon the ground. Jin looked down at the girl who had fallen to the ground. She looked up at Jin, twitching uncontrollably, seeming more scared in the face of him than she had in the face of the machine gun. He stepped towards her but she scrambled up from the ground, crying out in fear, dashing away desperately down the alleyway which had originally lead them there. 

Hwoarang stepped from behind the dumpster dusting himself off, ever more carefully around a wound on his thigh.

"Mishima bastards," He grumbled, "Can you believe one of those bullets actually went through two layers of steel and skimmed me? What are they making dumpsters out of these days, aluminum foil?" Hwoarang looked up to see if his commentary had been received, but Jin was staring off vacantly in the direction of the alleyway.

"Damn, looks like your catch for the night up and ran off. Serves you right, a guy with a price on his head don't have no business pickin' up chicks anyway." 

"I don't pick them, _they_ pick me." Said Jin.

"Well, what do you expect being a 'pretty boy' like yourself?" Jin glanced irately towards Hwoarang.

"What do you want anyway?" he said.

"Relax man, I'm not one of the a million traps and conspiracies Hehachi has probably tried to put upon you. You think I really want to be looking you up, puttin' myself in the line of high-powered assault riffles? Don't _even_ flatter yourself! I was talked into this!" said Hwoarang.

"Then why are you here?" said Jin.

Hwoarang sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"To talk you into coming with me to the temple I guess."


	6. Chapter 6

Hehachi Mishima narrowed his eyes upon the lean man standing across the desk from him.

"Over two dozen soldiers, all with high powered assault riffles, and he still evaded us…"

"Sir, it was believed the Kazama had outside aid of some kind."

"Like who!" Hehachi bellowed.

"We…haven't been able to verify that-"

"That will be all." Barked Hehachi abruptly.

"Yes sir, thank you sir." The slim man seemed relieved to bow out. Hehachi didn't want to believe that his company could be this incompetent. He had the National Guard as well as his own men on the look out for Jin Kazama. They had come so close, carefully tracking and studying every move of Jin, and when they finally pounce, he slips through their fingers. A month and a half of tracking and status reports for nothing. The surly old man stood up and walked towards his broad office window. In the faint light of the peak of dawn, he could see guards and such scrambling about below the grounds. Hehachi went to his desk and pushed the call monitor to talk to his secretary.

"Deja, what's all the commotion I see on the grounds?" he barked.

"There might have been a security breech sir." She replied.

"And when were you planning on informing me?" he said.

"Nothing else has shown up for a while now so we didn't think it necessary to alarm you."

"Didn't think it necessary to alarm me…" Hehachi growled to himself more, than to anyone else.

"Should I send security to stand guard inside your office sir? Sir…?"

A young girl stood in the shadows of his office. She wore a racy, skin tight, sleeveless, black leather outfit, with black half gloves. Her long brown shimmering hair hung down, caressing either side of her sleek, but muscular shoulder line. 

"You," said the bemused man, "Chang's daughter…what do you want?"

"You and I have a common interest in the form of Jin Kazama. I can get you what you want, come through for you where your own men and the police of Japan have failed you."

"And for what reason should I have this… trust in you? Are you not part of a proud line of those who detest the Mishima conglomerate?"

"I'll let you in on a little secret…" she said slinking towards Hehachi, she pulled her hair back, "I'm not Julia anymore…" her eyes flashed an unnatural neon color and Hehachi could see centuries of suffering souls in them. The revelation had sent Hehachi into a cold sweat, but he soon gained composure.

"Yes, I see. You are suggesting we…work together on this."

"I don't need your cooperation to find Jin, I can find him at any time. I only came to you that you too, may get what you want out of this. That is, if we can work something out."

"And you want?"

"One million, cash." She said. Hehachi smirked.

"What?" she asked.

"Some how I thought a being of your type would be… above all that material need."

"A girl has got to make a living."

"All right then, I'll give you half the money if you tell me where he is, and the other half when he is brought in."

"Wait a second there Mishima. I watched your crews fail, there's no way your going to bring demon Jin in with men in suits and guns. You'll need a more… personal touch."

"I see," said Hehachi.

"As for right now," said Julia, "I'll need you to reach into your little hidden vault and pull out twenty thousand, I've been in the city almost a full day now and I haven't done one minute of shopping!" Hehachi stared at the girl in outrage, but did as she said.

"Oh and I've chosen a nice guest room on the west wing that over looks the garden, so tell your guards to get used to me." And with that, she sauntered out. 

__

"When you look at it sensibly there really is no place else to go, other wise you wouldn't be wandering around the streets."

The ride seemed endless to Jin.

__

"At the temple you'll get protection."

Nothing but trees, blackened by the night, to look at.

__

"There are people who want to help."

Jin didn't like being this close to any male, as he had to ride on the back of a motorcycle, much less Hwoarang.

__

You have to trust me… 

They arrived at some very tall, ominous looking dark gates that were almost hidden by shrouds of overgrown trees and bushes. Pushing aside some branches Hwoarang revealed a small monitor, he pressed a small button at the bottom_._

"Somebody order a pizza?"

"State your name." A monotone voice replied.

Hwoarang sighed, "Hwoarang. The pizza's are getting cold."

"Password."

Hwoarang slapped his forehead, "Dueling dragons."

"Negative."

"The hell I should know! No body told me about a fuckin' password!"

"There is one. You were told it."

"Well shit, I forgot! Uh…shit uh…quivering carp…crouching tiger…hidden dragon? Oh wait I know- Daggers of deceit!"

The Iron Gate creaked open.

"HA, it WAS daggers of deceit!" 

"Negative."

"Man you're a real tight ass, you know that?"

"By now you should know better than to play around with security."

Hwoarang started up his motorcycle.

"And you should have some fuckin' respect for the delivery man!" 

They drove through the gates to find themselves meeting a bunch of ninja looking guards with machine guns.

"Relax boys, its me! See…red hair."

They parted aside to let him through.

"Bozos." Hwoarang muttered underneath his breath, before he sped off down the path to the main temple. The motorcycle was brought to a stop directly in front of the steps to a large concrete temple. Jin followed Hwoarang to the top of the steps. Suddenly out of the dark entrance of the temple burst…Xiayou? She looked rather comical, running up in large wooden sandals, and a colorful kimono that she had to hold up to seek from tripping over. She halted in front of the two battered fighters.

"About time you guys get here! I've been waiting up all night! Look it's nearly morning now I can practically see then sun, did you guys stop for a beer or something on the way! What took you so long?"

Hwoarang met the girl with a big hug.

"Shush babe, your gonna wake up the spirits." He said.

"What do you expect? I was waiting _forever_! And then you guys roll up in here at like six in the morning with all types of scratches on you! I've been so worried!" Upon seeing Jin, Xiayou pushed hastily out of her embrace with Hwoarang. 

"Jin its you! You poor thing your all scratched up." She placed her hand on his cheek as she fawned over his various wounds. Hwoarang stood with his arms crossed as he cleared his throat.

"He wasn't complaining on the ride up here. C'mon Jin, the old man Wang wants to meet you." 

Xiayou grabbed Jin's hand, leading him away from the temple towards some structures on the side of the main building.

"Don't you dare Hwoarang! He's not meeting Wang or anybody until he's been cleaned up and had a good nights, err, mornings rest." Xiayou turned to Jin 

"Look at Hwoarang acting like he cares now, you wouldn't know I literally had to pull teeth to get him to look for you! I would have myself but old man Wang gave this stupid order that I can't leave the temple because he thinks I'm reckless. Can you believe that? Reckless or not, I still could have found you faster, and I would have definitely brought you back in better condition." She said. Hwoarang snorted in disgust, but he followed along since he needed some medical treatment as well.

Julia didn't have to stalk the girl long before she walked of into an alley in which there weren't many people around. Girls like her didn't like being among the general populous for long. Julia followed her prey inconspicuously into the alley.

"Excuse me?" said Julia. The startled girl with neon colored streaks in her hair whipped around.

"W-What?" she stammered. The events of her previous had her more than a little shook up, but the brown haired girl with two braids, wearing jeans and sneakers with a tan leather vest seemed rather innocent.

"Could you direct me to Main Street?" said Julia with a hopeful look.

"Uh, yes…go back out that way and three blocks to you left, you should be on the main drag."

"Oh okay, thank you. One more thing?"

"Yes?"

"You've seen a tall, well built, dark eyed handsome man, with spiky black hair around here recently?"

The girl's eyes opened wide as she backed away,

"Who are you what do you want- ahh!" she felt the cold hard grip of Toshin Julia's hand hold her by the back of her neck. In a flash Julia read the events in the girls mind, playing it backwards in her own. 

__

The Demon…The battle in the court yard…I hid in the doorway…We ran down the path…I hear gunshots…We kissed…

With a roar Toshin Julia threw the now limp girl to the ground. Seeing them kiss had sparked a feeling, one she did not understand. Feelings like this could mean that Toshin was losing her complete control over Julia. She stood in wonder for a brief moment only to realize that it was a feeling of jealousy. Julia was not over throwing her control at the moment, but by exploiting this feeling that Julia had, Toshin could make sure she stayed in control permanently. Having composed herself Julia put her focus back upon the girl on the ground. Julia kneeled over the girl and smacked her in the face, waking the girl. The girl gagged as Julia lifted her by the neck pushing her up against the brick side of a building.

"Did his lips feel good against yours?" Julia taunted, "Or could you even tell the difference between him and so many others?" with that, Julia snapped the girls neck. Out of the corner of her eye though Julia could see a man standing at the opposite end of the alley. He stood there in horror. He had seen it all. Before the man had even thought to run, Julia pulled her dagger from it's sheath and speared it into the mans chest. He fell back from the shear force with which it hit him.

"So sad, so sad," said Julia as she walked up to the man who was clutching the protruding end of the dagger twitching around unusually for a person who had been directly hit in the heart.

"You sir were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, why should you have to die like she did? You don't even have a clue as to what's going on. Not to worry, I will clue you in. That dagger you've been stabbed with is no ordinary dagger. Minions of evil, such as I, can't even touch the blade of the dagger without being burned. But to ordinary people who have been stabbed in the heart, such as you, it has a slightly different effect. When I pull this dagger out of you, you will die, then rise again becoming a terrible monster that will feed on the blood and flesh of other humans, specifically the hearts. You will feed and grow stronger with each victim until you are a holy terror, and you will only be killed when someone comes back with this very same dagger and cuts out your heart. A very interesting destiny if you ask me." Julia tore the dagger from the man's body smiling upon the scream he let out. She wiped the blood on his clothing, then sheathed the dagger back into the inside of her vest.


	7. Chapter 7

"Nipki! Nipkiiieeeee!" The older gruff man called out into the foggy woods.

"Junto hush now, if you call a kitten like that you'll only drive it further from you." He heard his wife say from somewhere nearby. Junto softened his voice to his best ability.

"Nipki…here kitten!" he said. Junto loved his wife of nearly forty-five years dearly, but sometimes her passion for cats drove him nuts. Especially with this kitten which had run off before. It came back on its own, but Ludan thought she had heard noises in the woods, so they had gone to look for the rogue kitty. He had a mind to put his foot down and say no to this search. The woods aren't safe like they were in the old days. Recently unsavory characters had come around this way, using these woods to conduct their business in. Even if it was their property, Junto didn't trust being this far out on it at night. Junto raised his flashlight up to look for his wife, but even the high beam couldn't seem to cut through the fog. Junto didn't like how this felt.

"Ludan, honey, this is far enough. I'm going to find you then were going back to the house!" he yelled into the woods. Where the land sloped up the man knew it lead up to Dove's hill. Ever since the hilltop house burned down, leaving no remains of the single mother and her son that inhabited it, not many had gone up there. The spontaneity with which it happened just didn't seem right. There were definitely dark secrets there, but Junto had no intention of exploring them that night.

"Ludan!" he called again.

"Alright dear I've given up! I'm on the pathway." She called back to her husband who was apparently still somewhere deeper in the woods.

"Honey, don't you worry, just stay there I'm coming out now." He said. Ludan giggled at how self-important her husband was.

"Please hurry dear," she said playfully, "I don't think I could move another inch without you here to protect me!"

"Ludan…Ahhhh!" she heard her husband yell. The woman immediately started to run to where she heard her husband's scream come.

"Junto!" she rushed through the forest, wildly waving off branches that tried to cling to her.

"Junto! Are you alright?" she came upon her husband on the ground shaking.

"Look…over there…" he pointed his flashlight into the bushes to reveal the body of a woman. The body was bruised and naked, haphazardly entangled in the bush. Somebody must have dropped her there and had most certainly left her for dead.

"Is…is she alive?" Junto asked?

"I'll go over and check." Said Ludan. She knelt down, lifted up the lifeless head of the body and put her fingers to a vein on the neck.

"There's still has a pulse, we should get her to a hospital while there's still time." She said to her husband. 

"You want _me_ to pick her up?" Said Junto as he stood up dusting himself off.

"Well you don't expect me to pick her up silly! Come now, who wears the pants in this family!" Ludan nudged her husband. He carefully lifted the woman's body out of the shrub, trying not to get her scratched her more than she already was. The couple then headed back to the house.

When they had gotten to the hospital the doctor had said the woman had been beaten into a coma. They had no idea when or if she was going to come out of it at all. Ludan sighed heavily upon hearing this. She looked into the room where they had set the mystery woman to rest, after dressing her wounds and bathing her. Ludan looked back over at her husband who was sitting in a chair outside the hallway, his head down. She could understand how her husband was so shaken up by this. They had three daughters of their own, one of which could very well have been that woman, had the couple not taken such great care to give their daughters a stable, loving upbringing with good education. Ludan could even say that the unconscious woman had a resemblance to one of their daughters. But even more of a resemblance did she have to the young, single mother that lived on top of Dove's hill…

By the position of the sun in the sky, Jin could tell it was late afternoon. Jin must have slept the entire day but still he was tired. He dreamt of his mother, he dreamt of the god of fight that had taken his mother's life. He'd dreamt that the ogre had taken another form. It was as if the very hilltop that he used to live on was calling him…

He sighed, not even in sleep could he find peace. But he didn't feel like contemplating his disturbing dreams, not when there was so much he had to find out. 

He threw the sheets off his body and pushed up off the bed, putting on a white robe and slippers that had been giving to him by one of the temple assistants. A strange and hidden place this temple was. Well protected too. He could see ninja's dressed in black lurking in the corners, they weren't intrusive, but it was hard not to be at least aware of their presence. Jin walked out side. It was a beautiful afternoon, warm and sunny, but Jin still felt dark. He walked about the gardens going no where in particular until he spotted Xiayou resting on the edge of a bridge, her feet dangling idly over the stream below where beautiful carp fish swam around. She had her hair down, her simple baby blue sundress varied greatly from the traditional outfit she was wearing the other day. She must have gotten so tired of Hwoarang teasing her about it that she just changed. She looked up at Jin who was standing next to her.

"Afternoon sleepy head. Don't you look relaxed?"

Jin sat down next to her, 

"I wish I was as you say I look." He said. Xiayou giggled.

"Well you should. Relax a little, for now at least. It doesn't do you any good to be all wound up all the time." Said Xiayou.

"What was it you said this morning about an old man Wang wanting to see me?"

"Oh, he's called Master Wang really, but Hwoarang has even me calling him old man Wang now. That Hwoarang, no reverence for anything! I swear he acts like life's some type of big joke, he's so juvenile!"

"He may have something in common with you then."

"What?"

"Were you not the one who entered the tournament to win money to build an amusement park?"

Xaiyou blushed, 

"Pardon me but a theme park and haven for pandas is a very noble cause to enter a tournament!" she squealed, "I mean it's better than all those people entering for hateful reasons, like to get revenge on someone or to kill someone." Jin frowned, but he found himself examining the truth in her words.

"The fish bitin'?" said Hwoarang as he walked up to the two sitting on the bridge.

"Finally Ling, you shed the draperies and put on some normal clothing." Xiayou stood up facing Hwoarang.

"For your information I was wearing the traditional dress of Japan- a KIMONO, something a _red haired_ Korean like yourself wouldn't know anything about!"

"Watch it girly, talking bout my heritage and all." Said Hwoarang playfully getting into a fighting stance. Xiayou continued, "And I changed because baby blue is my color, not because of anything you said!" and with a huff she pushed past Hwoarang and walked off. The two watched her exit.

"Anyways," said Hwoarang, "Old man Wang is up and running if you want to see him. Enter the main building there, walk, you should see some fancy double doors to your left that's where he usually stays." 

Jin walked through the serene corridor of the candle lit temple, which was beautifully decorated in an oriental style. But as he neared the chamber that he presumed to be Master Wang's, he could hear voices that sounded a little less than serene.

"I'm sorry Master Wang but he can't remain here. He compromises the security of every living person here."

"Damn your security! Can't you see that if we don't protect him now we may lose anything left to secure! He's our last hope against evil!"

"Master Wang, has it not occurred to you that he could very well be one of the evils we have worked so hard to protect ourselves from? I may not be as old and wise as you think yourself to be, but I am very wise in the ways of the supernatural, and I can tell when someone is no longer human, and there something about that boy-" 

A temple attendant interrupted his eaves dropping.

"Master Wang will be able to see you in a short moment if you'd like to wait over here." Said the bald man in forest-green robes.

"Oh, right," said Jin, "If you don't mind me asking," said Jin to the attendant, "What exactly is this place?"

"Originally," the man said, "This was an old temple site, but about seven-teen years ago it was refurbished as a refuge from those with strong life energy wishing to hide from the destructive power of the ogre. Usually even two fighters grouped together would double the chance of an ogre attack, but monks pray day and night concentrating the peaceful aura of this holy site into a shield against evil. And the ogre has never found us. Tell me, there was a report that the ogre was defeated at the Tekken tournament. You were there weren't you? Were you the one to put the ogre to rest?"

"Well," said Jin, "I fought the ogre, but I had some help from another fighter."

"The red headed boy?"

"Not exactly…"

"Ah, I suspected so, though he was the winner of all that prize money something told me he wasn't the true earner."

"The winner of the contest is the winner of the prize, by default Hwoarang won against me in the final battle. Defeating the ogre wasn't in the contest; in fact the whole contest was merely staged to attract the ogre to us that I may fight it and take my revenge upon it for-." At that moment Master Wang's company opened the door and walked out.

"You may see Wang," the monk said to Jin.

"Master Wang?" Jin slowly opened the door.

"Yes, yes, step in Jin." Said an aged voice. Jin stepped inside, softly shutting the door behind him. He bowed his head towards the old man. Wang's body was feeble, but in his eyes Jin saw a youth and vigor like no other.

"Master Wang?"

"Come in, make yourself comfy. Pour yourself some tea." Jin did as he was told, lifting the small but heavy iron teakettle and carefully pouring tea into two cups set on a tray. Neither of them reached for the tea after it was poured though.

"You look so much like your mother, and your father too," said Wang, "but I suppose you've heard that many times before." 

"Only once or twice."

"Really? I'm sure you are tired of hearing it none the less. Do you know much about your father?"

"Only that he was an evil man."

"Ah," said the aged man, "You've heard some. But perhaps with a little background information, you can come to understand that the situation is a lot more complicated that one evil man versus the world." 

Jin was pretty sure he had an idea of just how complicated this whole situation was but he simply nodded listening to the wise man speak of his knowledge on the situation. Jin sat and he listened, he really listened. Jin heard of the original split between the father and son, how Kazuya came to take back the conglomerate and had done more evil with it than even his father had. Jin heard of how his mother had tried to relieve Kazuya of his evil powers, and ended up having to fight the devil himself to protect her unborn child. Jin tried his best to not cloud his mind with emotions or opinions of any kind while he listened, but they were catching up with him as Wang neared the finish of his story. As the old man finished he could see the disturbed look on Jin's face, he could only imagine what an extreme shock it must be to hear it all for the first time. The old man offered more words, though he wasn't sure if they would be of any comfort.

"There was a time when Kazuya was more misled than he was evil. But what he is now, I'm not even sure." Said Wang.

"Well he's dead now." Said Jin.

Wang shook his head slowly from side to side.

"Word is now, that Kazuya is back in Japan. Most likely to take back the Mishima empire from his father."

"He's back from the dead?" said Jin in surprise.

"I have a feeling that Kazuya never really died, though I can't vouch that he is truly alive either. I knew him when he was very little. He was a very bright boy, very spirited. Had he been given proper guidance, there's no telling what kind of things he could have done, good things, to make the world a better place. Hehachi wasn't able to give that kind care to his son."

"So he threw him off a cliff?" said Jin bitterly. Wang took note of the upset in the young man's voice.

"And I wouldn't have believed it myself, only now that Hehachi's men had pumped me full of bullets."

The old man raised his eyebrow as Jin continued,

"And Hehachi himself, with a silver handgun put a bullet directly between my eyes, yet I'm still walking around! Only I don't recall selling _my_ soul to the devil to get back at Hehachi. What, does my father's contract cover me too?" said Jin. 

"Calm yourself young man. I'm sorry to inform you that I can't tell you the exact technicalities that led you to be this way, but I can tell you that it is Kazuya's hatred for Hehachi has turned him into the evil he is today."

"Meaning?"

"You must see, that no matter what you are, at this point you still are in your right mind! Being able to realize the abnormality of the situation shows you are not yet evil in thought or at heart. And you can stop hatred from taking you over completely."

"I may be 'nornal' now but sometimes I…change." Said Jin, "And with Hehachi being after me and all, I really can't afford to lose myself now."

The old man nodded his head.

"It is true you are in a great deal of danger. Kazuya's appearance though may bide you the distraction you need to make a move in your benefit. Until you do think of your next move you are welcome to stay here and rest a bit."


	8. Chapter 8

Jin walked out of the temple in deep thought. So many worries swam around in his head, each one demanding more attention than the next. He wondered if he'd be caught and killed by Hehachi before he could figure it out. He went back to his quarters and lied on his bed, but he dared not fall asleep for fear of being plagued by nightmares. 

"Your not gonna lay in bed for the rest of the day are you? There are a few good hours of sunshine left!" said a perky voice. Jin looked over to see Xiayou, peeking her head in his doorway. Jin sat up slowly.

"Why what is there else to do." He asked.

"Nothing fun really, but come on! I'll show you around the place." Jin got up walking towards the doorway. Xiayou clasped his hand and pulled him along, as if he would run away. For a moment, Jin wondered if he should.

Xiayou's tour consisted of them walking about the gardens pointing out nearly every flower in the garden and fish in the brook. But strangely enough Jin found himself listening to her. Xiayou's youthful innocence and excitement for everything in life could be annoying at times, but at times it seemed a bit appealing. Jin didn't have to muse long to know exactly what he found attractive in her, the fact that she was fresh and young, untainted by hatefulness of others, untouched. It was a basic instinct, he thought, to strive for new things. Even if you are going to mess it up in a future, knowing it was yours first gives you a certain pride, a sense of security even. Or could it be he was catering to a more evil instinct to take away innocence and defile what was pure… 

"Jin, are you listening?" she said knocking him out of his train of thought, which was just as good because he didn't think it the least proper in context to Xiayou.

"Uh, yeah." He said, "Xiayou, how old are you?"

She rolled her eyes giving an exasperated sigh.

"Fifteen."

"You don't like that age?"

"No I don't like that question, whenever someone asks me my age it's either because they are trying to put me in my place, or in the case of a guy, he's wanting to know if I'm old enough to date." Jin chuckled,

"Is that so?" This young girl was wiser than she let on. Xiayou only rolled her eyes. 

"Here we are!" She said making a grand motion toward the barn like structure they were standing in front of. Before Jin could question, she grabbed his hand pulling him inside the building.

"I saved the best for last." She said excitedly. It took a second for Jin's eyes to adjust to the dim inside lighting, but nesting snugly, snoring away in the far corner of a stall he saw a panda.

"This is Panda. Aww she's sleeping! Isn't she darling?" said Xiayou. Darling? Jin had seen this bear fight at the tournament and she had been anything but.

"You must have seen her fight at the tournament. That old jerk Hehachi! He made me do it. Said he wouldn't let me compete even after I'd paid my entry fee if I didn't let Panda fight. I would have dropped the whole deal, but Panda said she wanted to." Panda said? Jin refrained from commenting on that last bit of information.

"You know what else? He promised me an amusement park, and then when I got there what did he show me? _Hehachi land!_ Of all the dirtiest, low brained schemes! I'll tell you now, I socked that old man right in the jaw!"

"Let me get this strait," asked a highly amused Jin, "you struck Hehachi?" 

"Knocked his dentures clean out of his head!" said Xiayou proudly, "I don't care if he _is_ an elder, he was, and still is, a jerk. He got what was coming to him. And I'll have you know that place didn't last for a hot minute. Millions of dollars all down the drain, cause nobody wants to go to _Dirty Old Man Land_!" 

Xiayou giggled and Jin found himself laughing to, for the first time in a while. After a couple more minutes of them looking at each other and busting into fits of laughter, they finally composed themselves and Xaiyou continued. 

"Not that I didn't pay for my little tantrum. Spent six days in a jail cell afterwards, but Hwoarang came and bailed me out." She said. It was then that the sounds of a motorcycle could be heard in the distance, growing increasingly louder as the perpetrator neared. 

"Hwoarang must be back!" Xiayou squealed, as she ran towards the exit.

"We'll come and bother Panda some other time when she's awake." Said Xiayou looking back at Jin who followed. Jin pushed the heavy door open, allowing Xiayou to scamper out. Hwoarang had parked and dismounted his bike some twenty feet from the building Xiayou and Jin emerged from. 

"What were you two doing in the barn?" Said Hwoarang, half playfully but with some hint of concern in his voice.

"What's it to you?" said Xiayou tauntingly.

"Nothing short of looking at a sleeping bear." Said Jin, giving Xiayou a stern glance.

"Sleeping bears can only rouse one's interest for so long." Said Hwoarang.

"Were it you in the barn instead of me, I'm sure that would be true." Said Jin coolly.

"What's in the bag! What did you bring me huh?" said Xiayou, calling all attention to her, as she dug through the pouch affixed to Hwoarang's motor vehicle.

"Hey! What are you- get outta there!" said Hwoarang attempting to snatch an item from her that had been taken from his bag.

"Oooooo, your gonna get in trouble!" said Xiayou clutching the package close to her stomach as she turned every which way to keep Hwoaang from getting it.

"No…I'm…NOT!" grunted Hwoarang as he finally finagled the packet out of her hands. He held his trophy high taunting Xiayou with it as she flailed her arms jumping wildly to get it back. Jin observed the desired object to be a plastic bag wrapped around a fist-sized amount of dried up leaves.

"Whose gonna bust me, the fake ninjas? Ain't no cops round here." 

"Looks like Jin's gonna bust you." Said Xiayou. The two turned to look at Jin who returned their looks with one of contempt. Giving marijuana to a fifteen-year-old? Had he no shame! 

"Puh-lease! If you don't want none that's more for me! Now I'm heading to the kitchen to get some chow, getting the munchies just thinking bout blazin'!" said Hwoarang pulling Xiayou along by her waist toward the direction of the dining hall. Jin seemed though, to be steadily going in another direction. Xiayou turned around,

"You're not coming Jin? Where you going?" 

"Where ever you two aren't," said Jin under his breath. Xiayou didn't get to confirm exactly what Jin said before Hwoarang tugged her again nearly causing her to stumble.

"Rrraaw! I'm hungry!" he said playfully biting at her shoulder.

"Okay, alright!" she said, and the two jogged towards the dining lodge. 

Jin opened his eyes to find himself underneath a blinding assault. The sun. Had last night passed that quickly? Apparently yes. Ewww. There was a most foul taste in his mouth, no doubt from the weed he had smoked. Jin rubbed his forehead with his palm, but it didn't make his image any clearer. Just how long would it take this stuff to wear off? Jin was sourly disappointed in himself. For though physical strength comes and goes, strength of character is the mark of true virtue. He couldn't think of a time in his life when he wasn't completely adverse to any type of drugs or alcohol, but when it came right down to it, he buckled under peer pressure like the average loser high-school kid.

"What's done is done." Jin thought, "But I have bigger worries to think about." 

Jin looked about room with large pillow cushions that covered nearly the entire floor of the small room, annoyed at how he had managed to fall asleep in the one corner with out a single soft item. He could Xiayou and Hwoarang sleeping somewhat soundly. Groggily, Jin stretched then let out a monstrous yawn.

"Damn man! Could you yawn quieter?" said a now awakened Hwoarang. He to stretched out, taking notice of the sleeping angel at his feet.

"Aww she so cute when she's asleep." Said Hwoarang.

"She's cute when she's awake." Said Jin. That last comment earned a sharp glance from Hwoarang. Jin then stood up, which seemed to send the world around him into chaos, as the room started spinning before his eyes.

"Wow, you really are trying to get up there, buddy." Said Hwoarang, commenting on Jin's attempt at standing up. Jin sighed, holding his head with his hands, 

"Well, I know I should get up and shower now, that is if I want to leave today." Said Jin. Upon hearing this, Hwoarang stood up sharply, experiencing much of what Jin had in his previous attempt at the same act, but Hwoarang did not waver from the subject.

"You're not seriously considering going back to your home are you? I thought you were just tripping man." He said.

"Yes I am, and no I wasn't." said Jin. Hwoarang stumbled a bit over Jin's response before he continued,

"What the hell do you think you're going to find there?"

"I'm not sure yet, that's why I'm going."

"You think you're going to find Hehachi there? You're probably going to find Hehachi there, I mean common sense I guess, they're looking for you, they always steak out your house don't they."

"Then I'm going to find Hehachi there."

"Now that's the part where all logic fails you. You are running from Hehachi, why would you go to where you think he might be."

"Because I'm not running any more. Eventually Hehachi will hunt me down and kill me. Why not face him and see who the better man is?"

"If you wanna get the big guy, there's not doubt in my mind you can do that. But it's not done by rushing into traps. It's done by sitting back, planing, and observing what the next best move is. You can't just walk into his house and expect to kill a powerful guy like Hehachi. Face it, you were tripping last night and you still are now."

"No," said Jin firmly, "I came to a conclusion, I just happened to be high at the time, it doesn't make it any less valid."

"The fuck it doesn't! Dude, you were FUCKED UP last night! You get me? Any idea you came up with should seriously be considered before you go out and try it. Shit, why am I still talking to you, you're still high! Once you come down, I'm sure you'll see there's no point in leaving the temple not when Hehachi's' hot on your trail. Chances are there's nothing there, just your old house, and maybe a new family living in it. What's the point, you'll travel all that way for nothing."

Xiayou stirred beneath them, obviously waken by the aggressive voices of the two young men standing above her.

"My house was burned to the ground," said Jin, he then walked out of the room silently.

"Where's he going?" said a weary Xiayou.

"Nowhere if I can convince him of it." Said Hwoarang.

Two hours later everyone had showered, and packed whatever items they wanted to bring into the golden sedan they would be driving on their road trip to Jin's home. Hwoarang had given up arguing the trip long ago, feeling if he couldn't beat him, he would join him, and accompany Jin on the trip. Xiayou said her good-byes to her panda and headed back to the car before the boys left her behind, which she didn't doubt they would try to do. Her argument for this one had been clean, clear, and concise. If there was no eminent danger, then there was no reason she couldn't come. If there was, then they needed her to help them fight. Leaving her behind, because it was too dangerous, would be denying her fighting ability, which was not something either of the men wanted to test her of at the moment. So she was coming. Though she didn't understand why they had to leave at noon, they couldn't wait until the next morning so they would have more light to travel by?

"Men," Xiayou sighed, leaning her head on the window in the back seat of the car as it rolled out of the temple grounds. She couldn't begin to fathom their pride and ignorance.

Somewhere along the way Xiayou had closed her eyes and dozed off. When they opened again, the car had come to a stop. It wasn't quite pitch dark yet, as she could see a hint of navy blue in the sky.

"Get out of the car already." Said Hwoarang, as he opened the door that she was leaning upon. She grumbled at her stiffened muscles as she pushed herself of the car seat.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"We're here." He replied. Xiayou rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, that's a lot of information. Are we at Jin's home yet."

"We're in his home town. Come on, we're gonna check into this inn for the night."

It was a strange group indeed that walked in that evening. A trio in the form of two brawny young men and a stout but lean girl. The first man, the black haired man, had entered very inconspicuously, cautious even, glancing about as if to check the surroundings. But this tone wasn't long lasting, as directly behind, the door burst open with abnormal energy, from what the host was used to seeing having worked there for the better part of her young life. A bright red head was the first thing to catch her eye, followed by the toned body to which it belonged. Rather unseemly looks were exchanged between the two, but before any real tensions could surface, a distraction walked between them in to form of a young shapely girl. A girl, which the hostess thought, looked much to young to be hanging with these young, strong looking men. Unconsciously, their gazes locked upon her as she walked past then stopped to twirl around to wink and blow a kiss at them both. Comic relief having relived all tensions, the crew headed towards the front desk of the lobby.

"Rooming for three?" said the black haired gentleman, the girl was currently having a tickle war with the red head young man. Jokura, only nodded, bringing up the information on the monitor.

__

"That's him, that's really him." Jokura's heart and mind raced in unison. _"I thought- we all thought, he was dead…" _

"How much?" asked Jin, pulling the girl out of her thought.

"Oh yes, um, we don't have any such rooms, um, with three beds that is, you could rent a two-bed and a one-bed?" she said. By now even more distrubing thoughts were plaguing the hostess' head. Could this be some type of sick dream? They said no remains were found in the fire, could Jun and Jin Kazamaa have faked their deaths? Could Jin have burnt the house down killing his mother and come back for unfinished business? Jin nodded his head, 

"That will be fine-." 

"Hey money bags you forget who's treatin' this time round? A two-bed room will be fine." Overruled Hwoarang, "I'm sure he can sleep on the floor in the corner of the room or something." He motioned to Jin, who motioned back, scratching his jaw line with his middle finger prominently displayed- to Hwoarang. 

"AH-hem." Hwoarang then coughed, seeing it fit to cover his mouth with a fist in which his middle finger was also prominently displayed- to Jin. Hwoarang turned his attention back to the young, pretty, inn worker taking the room-keys from her.

"Thank you so much, miss, and it would be my pleasure to come back down here and pester you about all the cozy little details of the charming place, if its not an inconvenience to you in any way." He flashed his killer smile.

"No problem to me at all, ask me anything any time, I'll be here all night." She smiled back. Jin rolled his eyes.

"If you're done here, we like to find our rooms now?" Jin said pulling his arm around Xiayou.

"The elevator up is down the hall way to your right. Your room should be indirectly across from it once you reach you floor." Said Jokura.

"You know that chick?" said Hwoarang to Jin in their elevator ride up.

"Jokura Hashiba. Tom-girl turned pretty-girl in sixth grade once the hormones hit her. This inn has been in her family for generations, it's famous for the hot-spring baths out back." Said Jin.

"Hmmm… sounds goooood. I think I'll be checking that out later on." Said Xiayou.

"Cute chick," said Hwoarang referring to the lobby hostess, "She seemed to know _your_ face pretty well Jin- you bang her or something?"

"NO! She was apart of a group of kids that practically hated my guts." Said Jin "And everyone knew _everybody_ in this town; I'm not kidding." Hwoarang chuckled,

"Ha, you were a dork Jin! I bet you didn't have an friends at all." He laughed out loud. Jin growled, his memories of social exclusion in his home. It wasn't easy being the town bastard. His mother being a new comer to the sheltered town, alone and unmarried and none the less a teacher at his own school. Not that it mattered to him; he loved his mother, and loved being around her. Jin sighed, he didn't look upon his childhood memories as that happy, but what he wouldn't give now, to be back there again, spending his recess eating lunch with his mother.


	9. Chapter 9

Xiayou sat by the edge of the bath, robed in a bright white towel. She let her long bangs fall down, looking into her reflection in the steamy water. She marveled at how she could look so grown up, just by letting her hair down. Perhaps she would try and wear it like this more often. 

"Jin wasn't kidding about this place!" thought Xiayou as surveyed her surroundings. Sleek but sturdy bamboo walls were constructed around the baths for privacy, but the open ceiling made it feel like being in the outdoors. The place was lit by dim candlelight so not to interfere with the cosmic natural light show that took place in the sky at night. Xiayou sighed. The stars, the candles, the wonderful aroma soaps steaming up the air, this truly was the most romantic setting she had ever experienced in her young life. Her heart was filled with such emotion she thought it would burst. She could be content for the rest of the evening just sitting here with her feet in the water. For some reason unknown to her, she glanced over at the entrance to the baths. That was the first time that she had really taken concern that she was all by herself. Not that it mattered, it was good to have some alone time once in a while, and there couldn't be a better place to have it than this. She quickly discarded the towel and slid in to the water. It was a little hot for her body to take all at once, but she didn't care. She spread out in the shallow pool, barely touching the bottom of the bath as she let herself float. She just needed to relax, that was all. Okay she definitely saw something in the corner of her eye this time. She flipped over suddenly, crouching beneath the water she peered over the bamboo side of the bath to see the shadowy figure come into focus…Jin? Xiayou exhaled deeply, more annoyed than anything else. He was standing at the threshold of the baths, but once she had spotted him, he began to walk in. She stared him dead in the eye, her head cocked to the side, not saying anything as she wanted to give him a chance to explain himself. He continued on his way though, steadily walking towards her, his gaze not deviating from her own. When he neared a little to close for comfort, she snatched her towel down upon her, consequently completely drenching it, a small price to pay for her modesty though. Alas he came to a stop, a few feet away from the edge of the bath. Xiayou searched his face for any sort of emotion that could clue her into what exactly he was thinking, but could find none, which was highly unusual for the extreme awkwardness of the situation. Was this some kind of joke? Xiayou grunted in disgust, climbing out of her warm bath to confront this annoyance. To her dismay, the heavy, wet towel clung to her body as she stood up, further accentuating her feminine curves. Not quite the effect she was going for, but even that wasn't going to stop her from unleashing her wrath upon Jin. Her already narrow eyes thinned to tiny slits, as she gave him her most surly glare.

"_WHAT_ are you doing here!" she yelled.

"I think you know." Replied Jin suavely. She was sure definitely joking, but Xiayou was not amused.

"Oh believe me, _I'm flattered,_ but I came here to relax BY MYSELF and in case you haven't noticed, this is the _women's_ section any way," she pointed abruptly towards the entrance, 

"So get a move on!" Jin sharply grabbed her pointed arm by the wrist. But before she had a chance to react to the crushing pain he was causing her, he twisted her arm, kicked her feet out from under her, sending them both falling to the ground with him on top of her. She felt pain all over her body where they landed upon the floor. She screeched, clawing and striking at him with her one free arm, the other arm being trapped beneath her, under his body weight. The side of his face now bleeding where she had gouged him, he brought his hand up to her throat, ferociously squeezing it wile pushing her jaw up and back to quiet her while he forced her legs apart. Only able to resist Xiayou at his grip enough to breathe, she could no longer combat him, under the strangling hold.

Hwoarang entered the hotel room cautiously. Though he was pretty sure she was at the baths, one could never be too careful. His mission: to retrieve car keys from room, and make it down to the lobby where Jin was waiting for him without being spotted. Were he to bump into a certain girl, they would doubtlessly have to bring her along. It was all Hwoarang could do to convince Jin to bring him along in the hunt for who knows what, but if Xiayou were to make a big deal about going as well, Jin would probably just leave the both of them. To his slight shock, Hwoarang found Xiayou asleep on the bed, though her rest seemed anything but peaceful. She jerked about, like she was fighting off something, or someone.

"Xiayou?" Hwoarang rushed to the bedside shaking her lightly to free her from her apparent nightmare. She began to struggle back shaking her head back and fourth, her whimpering undecipherable.

"Xiayou wake up!" shouted Hwoarang, shaking her harder, then resulting to pinching her sharply on her arm to free her from her subconscious. She shot up abruptly, barely containing a scream. She looked around, finding herself in the room she had probably never left. It was all just a dream.

"Xiayou, it's okay, it's me." Said Hwoarang, stroking her sweat drenched hair softly as he pulled her into an embrace. She squirmed uncomfortably out of the hold, as being hugged wasn't exactly the comfort she desired at the moment. This worried Hwoarang though.

"Are you alright? Look Jin and I were gonna head out on our own, but if you want me to stay with you here I will."

"I'm, I'm alright. I just had a, a weird dream, that's all." She said, "I want you to go with Jin. He needs all the support he can get right now." This was definitely cause for concern. Was Xiayou now turning down her piece of the action?

"Are you sure you're okay? You don't have to be here alone if you don't want to-"

"Look, I'm fine. I want you to go with Jin to look for, whatever. I'm going to take a shower here so I need the room for myself anyway." She said sternly. Hwoarang was somewhat perplexed, but he didn't argue. He stood up to leave.

"Don't forget your car keys." Xiayou said. He picked them up off the dresser table then left the room, shutting the door firmly behind himself. Xiayou bolted up all the locks after him. 

After taking a long hot shower and getting dressed, Xiayou went down stairs to see what was going on. She had already missed the ride for any real action when Jin and Hwoarang took off, but for some reason she felt okay with that. 

As the elevator door opened letting her out onto the main floor, she thought about how crazy this all really was. Jin would never dream of harming her. Though she had to admit to herself, he was a little weird at times, but not perverted rapist weird. Xiayou wondered though, if these intensely strange dreams were becoming a pattern. The night before she dreamt of a dead woman found in some woods somewhere. Xiayou had always known herself to be a sound sleeper, especially when she was high, like she was the night before, but since Jin came everything was so chaotic.

"It's really not his fault, so much is happening around him." Xiayou thought, "It's probably just all the excitement that's got me wound up."

Xiayou spotted the young woman that worked in the hotel dusting off the lounging furniture in the lobby, and figured she would know when dinner was, if indeed this hotel served any.

"The two young men have left already if that's who you're looking for." Said the woman.

"Oh no, I knew they left, I was just wondering if you all have anything to eat around here." Asked Xiayou.

"I'll make you some dinner right now." She replied.

"Oh that's not necessary, I don't want to keep you from your work-"

"Please," the woman interjected, "it would be my pleasure, I don't have anything else to do right now, really."

"This is really good, um," Said Xiayou with her mouth half full, 

"Jokura is it?" she shoveled more food into her mouth with her chopsticks. The pretty, slender, young lady with blonde streaks died in her hair smiled.

"Yes, thank you." She said bowing her head.

"Oh no thank you, I mean stopping what you were doing to prepare this great meal for me? I don't know how to begin to thank you!" exclaimed Xiayou.

"I only ask that you brag like this to your companions as well. Tell them what they missed when they left you behind." Jokura said. Left behind? Xiayou wondered slightly where her host had picked up on that, though it was probably blazingly obvious. Jokura continued on though.

"It can be hard though, a young girl like you holding her own with grown men like them. They do that to you a lot? Pair up and take off that is."

"I hold my own," Said Xiayou beginning to be slightly offended. "I can't say Jin, Hwoarang and I have been really hanging together long enough to-" Xiayou stopped upon seeing the woman mouth Jin's name to herself. 

Jokura looked up at Xiayou inquisitively, 

"Jin Kazamaa? He used to live here you know, its been so long. We all thought he was dead," she bursted out. 

Xiayou was silent. She was reluctant to comment on something she knew so little about, and rather annoyed at the extreme awkwardness at which the subject had been brought out. However, Xiayou could understand that people would be concerned and perplexed if they didn't know what was going on. But she wasn't really informed either. And what little she did hear from Jin made her conclude that the people here weren't very nice to him. 

"You're really talented you know that? You get to use your culinary talents a lot working here?" said Xiayou, using her extraordinary skills of diverting the attention in any situation to the subject of her will.

"Sadly not as much as I would like." Jokura simply replied, taking the hint.

"You should go somewhere that lots of people can taste your cooking, then."

"That would be a dream, but I've never even left this dull, old town."

"Really, nothing exciting happens here? No big type people come through here ever." Asked Xiayou.

"Well, there has been a more seedy type of character coming through this town recently. Criminal types you know? Not at all the people I want living around me. Why just the other day ago, a woman's body was found out in the woods by elder Junto and his wife on the foot of dove's hill. Apparently she was beaten unconscious then left there to die. She's in a coma now, residing in the hospital across the street."

Junto…Ludan…Dove's Hill. Xiayou stood up abruptly. So it hadn't been just a dream.

"What- what is it?" replied a startled Jokura.

"I…have to pee!" she said brightly.

"Oh are you going to finish your dinner?" asked Jokura.

Xiayou was progressing out of the room rather quickly by now.

"Oh it was so good and I ate so much, I…just save a little for me I'll be back soon." And with that Xiayou was out of the dinning area, and crossing through the doors of the inn.

Xiayou eyed the surroundings of the small medical center. It was cozy, but it seemed abnormally inactive. Perhaps that's just the way these small towns were. The place really looked more like one of those old folk' homes or rehabilitation center than it did like any hospital. The secretary at the desk didn't seem to give Xiayou a first glance, so she just walked on through. No security of any kind seemed to care or wanted to stop her. Xiayou climbed up a flight of stairs entered the second floor hallway. She walked the entire length of it, then stopped. Immediately as she entered the room she felt something, as if she had been there before. As she wandered further in she tried desperately to conjure up the exact memory that led her to be there. And then Xiayou saw her. A-woman looking deathly pale with short-cut hair laying face up on the hospital bed. Xiayou sat next to the woman on the bed, surveying the monitoring equipment, then turned her focus to the face of the inanimate woman. Her expression looked peaceful and warm, strangely familiar as well, considering Xiayou had never met the lady in her life. 

"Why am I here?" Xiayou asked quietly, "Or for that matter why are you here?"

"Now what exactly is it that we are suppose to find in these woods?" Hwoarang asked though he knew he wasn't going to get an answer. Jin just pushed on ahead. Hwoarang sighed. He knew that this whole trip was some sort of premonition of Jin's and that there really was no answer as to what they were doing. Asking obvious questions wasn't going to help. Hwoarang followed Jin at a distance, by keeping his eyes on the moving light emitted from Jin's flashlight, since it was too dark to actually make out his form through the dark foliage. It hadn't seemed long at all before they came to a clearing and a raised area of land. Jin having stopped at the hill, Hwoarang caught up with him at a leisurely pace.

"This your hill?" Jin nodded, seeming reluctant to go any further. Hwoarang took the initial to press on. They hadn't come all this way not to at least check out what was up there. Walking onto the grassy hill brilliant moonlight lit his way so that he didn't even need his flashlight. After completing his short trek to the summit of the hill, Hwoarang stopped, turning slowly about to observe what little he could in the surrounding darkness. Nothing was up there, nothing at all. As a matter of fact the place seemed completely void of all energy. All sounds of the forest or rustling of the leaves and various forms nightlife was oddly inaccessible from the very top of the hill. Hwoarang started to sympathize with Jin's reluctance to come up there. Jin always seemed a little more connected with the 'unknown' elements anyway. 

"This is creepy, I'm outta here." Said Hwoarang to himself. He turned and began back down the hill hoping to find Jin and leave the woods altogether. At which point Hwoarang heard sounds which was very weird considering hear couldn't even hear his movement. They were footsteps or boot-steps rather, crisp and clear.

"Oh shit…." Hwoarang took a brutal dive unto the ground rolling downwards rapidly only a fraction of a sectond before the all too familiar rapping of continuous fire sounded.

Had Xiayou not turned her head upon hearing them, she would have noticed that the woman's eyes opened the exact moment the gun shots rang out. Xiayou would have leapt to her feet at once, knowing that Hwoarang and Jin were probably in the center of those horrible sounds, but she felt a cold hand grip the back of her neck. Startled, Xiayou looked down at the woman. She lady stared at her with an expressionless face gripping Xiayou's neck most uncomfortably. The next feeling Xiayou experienced was unlike anything she had physically felt in her life. She felt her blood race and her heart stop simutaneously, every muscle in her body so strung that she was shaking; yet she felt completely relaxed. In fact she couldn't feel anything save a strange, seemingly electric pulsing through her head. 

She could steadily feel herself growing wearier… then it stopped. And the pain began. Xiayou screams were deafening, she thrashed wildly about the hospital room, knocking the monitors and machines into disarray. She barely paused to take a breath and scream more, she screamed in pain, she scream out of intense fear of what was happening to her. Xiayou felt as if her innards were being torn apart from within and her skull was being bashed in. She spun about the room, now breathlessly wailing, not able to feel her self-inflicted pounding on her head over the internal throbbing pain. She bumped into a tray table with dishes, and now screaming more resolutely, she flung the objects across the room. One of which flew through a window shattering the pane as well as the glass, which scattered into endless fragments. Her fit continued as she grabbed the table by the corners throwing it on the floor. Consequently, she tripped on the overturned table and flew face first into the adjacent wall, tumbling down to the ground. To tired to react from the pain any longer, she pulled herself into a fetal position, still convulsing violently. 


End file.
